Before the Rose Bowl football bowl game on
Friday between Iowa and Fiorina's alma mater,
Stanford, the Republican presidential
candidate tweeted that she loves Stanford, but was
"rooting for a Hawkeyes win today."

It earned her criticism for what many saw as an attempt to pander to
voters in Iowa, the influential first-caucus state.

But an interview with Dana Bash on CNN on Sunday, Fiorina
said her tweet was clearly "tongue in cheek."

"Can't a girl ever have a little bit of fun?" Fiorina said. "That
was a tongue-in-cheek tweet, which the people of Iowa understand,
because I was asked over and over again in Iowa, having attended
a Hawkeye tailgate, I was asked. They knew that my heart was
torn."

Fiorina also used the opportunity to criticize President Barack
Obama for the way that he has treated the conflict with ISIS in
the Middle East.

"You would think, based on this reaction, that I had said
something really controversial, like, you know, ISIS is a JV
team," Fiorina said, a reference to a past Obama statement about
the terrorist group.

"If the biggest mistake I make is a tongue-in-cheek tweet about a
Rose Bowl, the America people will sleep safely when I'm
president of the United States."

After a minor jump in the polls following several strong debate
performances earlier this year, Fiorina has sunk down toward the
bottom of the pack. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average
of national surveys clocks her average support at 2.5%.